Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a draining device for draining a liquid, which will be accumulated in an eyelid aperture to disturb a surgery, an operation, a medical treatment or the like (hereinafter simply referred to as “surgery or the like”), out of the eyelid aperture during an eye surgery for cataract, etc. The present disclosure also relates to a method of draining a liquid in an eyelid aperture.
Description of the Related Art
The following description of related art sets forth the inventors' knowledge of related art and certain problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
In general, during cataract surgery or another eye surgery, in order to maintain transparency of a cornea, a liquid is supplied onto a surface of an eyeball from a syringe or a large amount of liquid is supplied to an eyelid aperture from a surgical machine. If a liquid supplied to an eyelid aperture accumulates in the eyelid aperture, there is a risk to cause deteriorated visibility of the operator due to the accumulated liquid, intraoperative complication, or postoperative bacterial endophthalmitis if bacteria is mixed in the accumulated liquid. Especially, in the case of a person having hollowed-out eyes, there is a tendency to cause liquid stagnation as mentioned above.
As a method for preventing the aforementioned liquid stagnation or accumulation in the eyelid aperture, a method for draining the liquid by soaking up with a gauze or a sponge has been employed. However, this method is very poor in draining ability, and therefore cannot cope with modern surgeries such as ultrasonic cataract surgery in which a large amount of liquid is supplied.
The currently most popular method as a liquid draining method is as follows. According to the method, a hole or a groove is formed in a cavity arm portion of an eyelid retractor for opening an eyelid during surgery. The hole of the arm portion and an electric pump are connected with a tube, so that the liquid accumulated in the eyelid aperture is sucked up via the tube by a suction force of the pump. However, even with this method, in cases where an eye has a thick eyelid or a narrow eyelid, or an eye is hollowed-out which readily causes liquid accumulation or stagnation, sufficient draining ability could not be exerted. Further, there are such disadvantages that it requires a driving power to operate the pump, it emits a large sound at the time of sucking up the liquid, or elderly people's slacked conjunctiva is readily incarcerated in the suction hole of the pump to prevent sucking liquid or produce pain.
In order to cope with the aforementioned problems, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 4572378 (hereinafter referred to as “Patent Document 1”) or Japanese Patent Publication No. 4806731 (hereinafter referred to as “Patent Document 2”), draining devices are known. Each of the draining devices is capable of draining a liquid accumulated or stagnated in an eyelid aperture by simply being arranged at an outer canthus (an outer corner of an eye) or an eyelid margin near the outer canthus without using a pump. In such draining devices, a liquid moves through a space formed between a main body of the draining device and an eyelid by a capillary action, etc., to be drained.
Concretely, the draining device disclosed in Patent Document 1 is provided with a main body to be arranged so as to form a predetermined gap between the main body and an arrangement surface of the main body on an eyelid near the outer corner of an eye. This main body has a flat sheet-like structure formed into approximately a trapezoidal shape as a whole in a developed state, and is formed by a waterproof material. Further, the main body is provided with a protruded section which will inwardly protrudes from the eyelid aperture marginal part when used, and the protruded section is provided with a hang-down section which will hang down toward conjunctiva near the outer corner of an eye when used. This causes adhesion of the liquid in the eyelid aperture to the rear surface of the protruded portion to pull out the liquid in the gap between the main body and the arranging surface, and make the liquid pass through the gap between the main body and the arranging surface to be drained outside the main body.
Further, the draining device disclosed in Patent Document 2 has a hook-shaped structure in which the tip end portion of the main body (body portion) is formed into a paddle shape. The draining device is arranged by inserting the hook portion into the eyelid conjunctival sac or drape of the outer corner of an eye. A liquid is caused to pass through the gap between the eyelid margin side surface of the abdominal section of the main body and the eyelid margin or the drape to drain the liquid by guiding to the surface of the tale portion of the main body to be drained.
However, conventional draining devices had a problem that a liquid accumulated or stagnated in an eyelid aperture could not be sufficiently drained outside the eyelid aperture. One of the reasons for this problem resides in that it is difficult to make a liquid effectively flow into the gap between the main body and the eyelid.
In the draining device 91 disclosed in Patent Document 1, as shown in FIG. 15(a), the main body 911 is arranged or placed on an eyelid M so that the protruded portions 912 protruded from the main body 911 into the inner side of the eyelid margin N absorbs the liquid accumulated or stagnated in the eyelid aperture from the upper side to flow therein. However, in order to absorb the liquid accumulated in the eyelid aperture from the upper side, it is required to set the height of the protruded portion 912 to the position near the conjunctiva L or the eyelid M. For this reason, the height of an inflow port for introducing a liquid is limited, reducing the cross-sectional area (hereinafter referred to as “inflow cross-sectional area”) S11 of the liquid at the position for introducing the liquid, which cannot effectively introduce the liquid. Further, in absorbing the liquid, only the liquid near the lower surface of the main body 911 can be absorbed, which prevents absorption of a large amount of liquid.
Further, in the draining device 92 disclosed in Patent Document 2, as shown in FIG. 15(b), the liquid is caused to flow in along the hook portion 922 hooked on the outer corner of an eye (eyelid margin) N. However, there is a limitation in the amount of liquid capable of flowing along the hook portion 922 by capillary action, and therefore the inflow cross-sectional area S21 of the liquid is very small. As a result, this draining device 92 also cannot cause effective inflow of the liquid. Further, in this draining device 92, when the liquid in the eyelid aperture increases, the draining device 92 itself dams the liquid at the outer corner of an eye N.
Further, the second reason that a liquid cannot be sufficiently drained resides in the fact that a conventional draining device cannot allow the liquid to efficiently pass through the gap between the main body and the eyelid in draining the liquid.
The draining device 91 of Patent Document 1 is designed to make the liquid pass through the gap between the lower surface of the main body 911 and the eyelid M to drain the liquid. However, as shown in FIG. 15(a), since the liquid is made to pass through the gap for allowing passing of a liquid in a manner in which the gap is closed from the upper side thereof, the gap for allowing passing of the liquid is limited. In accordance with this, the cross-sectional area (hereinafter referred to as “passage area”) S12 of the liquid at the position of making the liquid to pass reduces, preventing effective passing of the liquid.
Further, the draining device 92 of Patent Document 2 makes the liquid flow between the lower surface of the main body 921 and the eyelid M or the vicinity thereof. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 15(b), the passage area S22 for the liquid is very small, and the draining device 92 itself prevents passing of the liquid, preventing effective passing of the liquid.
In fact, in both the draining devices of Patent Documents 1 and 2, because of the aforementioned reasons, liquid could not be sufficiently drained outside the eyelid aperture, resulting in stagnation of the liquid in the eyelid because of the liquid supply amount exceeding the discharge amount by the draining device. Further, the draining device of Patent Document 1 is large in width, and the draining device of Patent Document 2 is large in height. This often hinders operations of surgical instruments by a surgical operator performing an operation while sitting at the ear side of a patient.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. For example, certain features of the described embodiments of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages and/or providing certain advantages, such as, e.g., disadvantages and/or advantages discussed herein, while retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.